


run away with me

by Kamiizumi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn, Superhuman Au, and implied bokuaka, eventual kurotsukki, minor but impactful swearing i guess HAHA, more couples later maybe?, more tags to be added later, song lyrics as titles: the fanfiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-08-08 20:56:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7773094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamiizumi/pseuds/Kamiizumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the span of forty-eight hours, Tsukishima Kei had one of the biggest mysteries of his life answered, at the cost of even more questions to rise in its place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. they used to shout my name now they whisper it

**Author's Note:**

> this is officially!!! my first haikyuu fanfiction and i'm not quite sure if it was stupid of me to start off my jump into this fandom with an eventual multichapter fanfic (when i could have jsut dropped a drabble or something bUT NOOOO)
> 
> anywho, please enjoy <3

               The light of early dawn combined with the crisp, salty sea air makes the cuts on his face throb and sting, but Kei couldn’t muster enough energy to be bothered. His throat is hoarse from the previous night, and he hasn’t slept a single minute since then, blank, brown eyes now sunken in with dark circles surrounding them. Kei’s glasses, once polished and clear, were now riddled with dirt and smudges, and he’s sure there’s a crack in the corner of his left lens but there’s no time to stop and get them replaced. Swallowing doesn’t help his dry throat any further, and it’s at the sound of his throat gulping that he realizes the only sounds he could hear were the distant crash of the waves against the shore, and the rickety truck’s tires crunching on the gravel beneath.

               Suddenly, a few fingers settle on his hand, gently interlocking with his ring finger. Kei hesitantly shifts his attention to the person next to him, the one currently driving the rickety old truck. Kuroo looks just as terrible as he does, if not worse. The blood that had freshly trickled from his forehead had now dried into thin, brown streaks, and the soot on his cheeks could not have masked the red, puffiness of his eyes; he’d been crying all night presumably. But Kei knew that Kuroo was stronger than he was, as stone-faced as he was right now, one hand idly placed on the steering wheel and his attention undeterred from the dirt road in front of them.

               As the other man’s grip on his hand became firmer, Kei let his eyes fall on their interlocked hands, pondering upon the circumstances that led them here in the first place.

* * *

                “Tokyo is nothing like Miyagi, eh, Tsukki?”

               Kei idly picked at his udon, vaguely seeing his bored reflection in the leftover broth. “Of course it’s nothing like Miyagi. We lived in the backwoods all our lives, but this really just seems like any other city, really.”

               Yamaguchi pouted and continued to slurp his noodles. “Live a little, won’t you, Tsukki? You’ve always talked about getting out of the countryside.”

               “Trust me, I’d pick anywhere else to go just as long as it isn’t Miyagi. But it seems Tokyo is about as good as it gets…,” he muttered, before adjusting his glasses and slurping another noodle.

               Going to university in Tokyo was probably Kei’s only ticket out of an otherwise uneventful life spent in Miyagi. While he himself had no problems getting accepted, Yamaguchi had needed assistance before securing himself a spot at the coveted institution as well. While Miyagi was stagnant and boring, Tokyo was lively, if a bit hectic and sometimes a little bit noisy. Crossing the busy streets during the day was still taxing on Kei, and getting some sleep amidst the honking and cars driving past his window at night took a little getting used to, but alas, this is what he signed up for.

               Yamaguchi wholeheartedly embraced the feeling of being in a strange and foreign city with his best friend, despite Kei’s lukewarm reception to Tokyo. At least one benefit that Kei could glean from this is that he didn’t have to share his apartment with some stranger that might steal from him or kill him in his sleep.

               “Tsukki?”

               The blonde blinked a few times upon hearing his name, refocusing on the young man sitting across from him.

               “What?”

               “You spaced out for a moment…you alright? The udon’s not screwing with you, is it?”

               He only rolled his eyes and made to stand up from his chair. “Let’s head back to the apartment, Yamaguchi. I’m getting tired.”

               With a brief, friendly wave from the owner of the udon shop, and the bell clinking above them when they step through the doorway, the both of them made their way back out to the colorful alleyways of the Tokyo nightlife, littered with street vendors and various other passersby.

               Just as Kei slipped his hands into his jacket to avoid the gentle chill of the night, with Yamaguchi beside him fondly launching into another debacle about whatever, a sudden tingle ran up his spine, prompting the blonde’s eyes to snap wide open. For a moment, all the sounds of the busy Tokyo nightlife became muted, and he had the faintest feeling that he was being watched.

               “Faster, Yamaguchi.”

               “But then Kageyama was screaming over the phone, so I couldn’t-“

               “ _Yamaguchi, walk faster…!_ ”

               The brunette blinked in confusion at the sudden interruption to his story, but quickly fell into pace when Kei started walking ahead of him.

               Yamaguchi stared at him with concern. “Are you sure you’re okay, Tsukki? Please tell me it wasn’t the udon.”

               “It’s not the udon.”

               The sensation was slowly growing stronger by the second.

               “Then what is it?”

               It felt like it was getting closer and closer. But who? This alleyway was packed to the brim with strangers, it could be anyone.

               “I, uh…”

               Whatever it was, Kei couldn’t be bothered to look behind him, for fear of whatever it was that was currently closing in on them.

               “I have to use the bathroom. Like, immediately.”

               Yamaguchi flushed for a moment before letting out a lighthearted chuckle. “Why didn’t you say so? C’mon Tsukki, let’s hurry then.” The shorter boy pointed out at the crosswalk a short way from them. “Look! It’s green, let’s go!”

               It was only once they’ve gotten across the street and simultaneously gotten lost in the sea of strangers that the chilling sensation had finally dissipated completely. While Yamaguchi fearlessly led the charge ahead to their apartment building, Kei allowed himself a glimpse of whoever- or whatever -it was that was following them, throwing a cursory glance behind him at the people left behind at the opposite sidewalk. Yet, nothing out of the ordinary, at least from what vision his glasses could offer him.

* * *

                Now, as he sat inside their small, yet tidy shared bathroom, under the pretense of taking “a massive dump” as he worded it, Kei wondered about the brief, if tense events that had just transpired.

               Kei always knew he was somewhat…different than others, to put it simply. And not in the way that superheroes often discovered their powers shortly after undergoing a traumatic event or before saving an innocent civilian from what could have been a terrible crime.

               Truth be told, that wasn’t the first time he’d ever felt like he was being watched. The same sensation had plagued him once or twice when he was younger. He can vividly remember one of the times he’d felt the same way, perhaps when he was around twelve, visiting his older brother Akiteru in the hospital after he’d been knocked unconscious during a volleyball game. He didn’t feel it upon entering the hospital doors, but the sensation slowly grew in magnitude the higher they ascended on the elevator. He could remember just how anxious he felt, walking those corridors with his mother on the search for his brother’s room, before locking eyes with an elderly man in a wheelchair down the hallway.

               Kei could vividly remember the elderly man’s weak, yet warm smile while clutching the armrests of his wheelchair. Then the old man’s eyes closed and he lay limp in his seat, and suddenly that chilling sensation was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place.

               Other times he’d ever associated that feeling with anyone was with an older girl back in middle school. He’d only been able to confirm that sensation was her once, locking eyes with her while walking through the hallways during lunch time. Kei had never seen her ever again; he was told she moved to a different prefecture.

               A light rapping on the bathroom door perked him up. “You alright in there? You’re taking a while…should I go run down to the drugstore and pick up some medicine?”

               Kei’s eyes widened and he flushed with embarrassment. “…N-No, I’m fine. Just…just make some coffee or something, I’ll be out in a bit.”

               “Alright!”

               The sound of muffled footsteps receding from the door made Kei sigh in comfort, and he raised one of his hands to curiously inspect its palm. That odd sensation of being “followed, watched”, however he wanted to call it was probably the lesser of the anomalies that he’s ever experienced.

               Another vivid, if somewhat unpleasant, memory he still remembers was when he was eleven years old, bright-eyed and all smiles, playing ball on top of a hill overlooking a good portion of his hometown. Kei remembers the red ball slipping out of his hands, and rolling down to the neighborhood streets below, and his wobbly little knees just took off on their accord, chasing after the rubber wonder of child-friendly technology. He didn’t remember when he’d gotten to the bottom of the hill, or how the force of his little sprint had him rolling to the ground in the middle of an intersection, but suddenly there was a sedan’s shiny bumper on his left, a loud noise, and a flash of light.

               When he came to, his mother was running after him, crying, with a young Akiteru in tow as well. Kei survived that encounter with only scrapes to his knees and minor scuffs, but the sedan had a sizeable dent carved into its bumper, roughly the size of a wrecking ball. Further check-ups at the hospital revealed that Kei didn’t suffer any internal damage, and that he should be more careful in the future.

               No one really questioned that incident, for they were only glad that Kei made it out of there unscathed.

               There was the time he had been cornered behind the school by some delinquents from the upper grades, and as they raised their fist-sized rocks to throw, he was ready to flinch, at the feeling of hard stone hitting him in the head. But when he opened his eyes, the rocks were all on the ground, and they were stepping away from him with awe and terror in their eyes.

               _It didn’t even hit him_ , they said.

               It’s been years since Kei had ever experienced anything of those circumstances, and even joining the volleyball club in high school didn’t reproduce any of those results. He had the bruises to prove it too. He wrote it off as one-off anomalies a long time ago, but why were they reemerging now?

               Kei clicked his tongue with discontent and pushed himself off the bathroom floor. After briefly washing his face in the mirror and giving himself a once-over (no changes, nothing noteworthy, though he did have some cilantro in his teeth), he finally stepped out of the bathroom. His coffee was getting colder by the second.

* * *

                The beginning of his fall semester at university was about as bland and uneventful as he thought it would be, with the added spice of being in the middle of the country’s capital, not that having more people around the place would necessarily make things more exciting. As expected, the first few days were reserved solely for going over the syllabi and networking with each other, neither of which quite tickled Kei’s fancy.

               Thankfully, Kei was able to align his classes with Yamaguchi’s, so he didn’t have to suffer through his break times without someone familiar to socialize with.

               It was just any regular Thursday morning, and the professor was just about to close up shop on his presentation as the clock hit ten minutes from 11:00AM. Kei had tuned out from the lecture about twenty minutes prior and was now just idly scribbling in his notebook, when that slight tingle hit his spine again. His pen fell from his loosened grip with a light clink, and his eyes narrowed as he tried to pinpoint where the sensation was coming from. Readjusting his glasses and taking another look at the wall clock behind the professor, he realized he would still have to be in class for another five minutes.

               Kei bit down on his lip, inwardly scowling and wondering what would happen if whoever, or whatever, it was managed to reach him. The sensation remained faint, but he knew that it would slowly approaching him, or his direction, at the least. Taking a moment to close his eyes, he wondered how he would be able to avoid this unknown assailant. Having a classroom on the third floor posed some problems, after all. He could take the elevator down and hide in the in/out crowd, but that meant he might directly run into his assailant. There was the west wing stairwell and the east wing stairwell, but the west wing was still down the hallway and he would have to risk running into whoever it was if he couldn’t pinpoint which direction they were coming from.

               _Just my rotten luck_ , Kei thought to himself, grinding his teeth together. Wasting no time, he slyly slipped away his notebook and his pen, intending to bolt out the door the moment the clock struck twelve.

               Kei slipped out the doorway as politely as he could, managing to maneuver his tall yet lithe frame out without knocking over any other students. Still mindful of the sensation picking at him from the back of his head and the fact that it didn’t seem to have moved any closer since he first sensed it, he made the split decision to go for the west wing stairwell.

               For a moment, it almost felt like the sensation was getting even fainter and fainter, and Tsukki was just about to claim success but for some reason, it stopped becoming faint, and began to slowly grow in strength. Once he entered the second floor stairwell, he could no longer deny that whoever it was that was after him was walking in his direction. Kei swallowed thickly and looked around, but no one else seemed to be paying attention to him.

               _I have to get out of here_ , Kei quickly decided. He took a deep breath and readjusted his glasses once more, suddenly aware of how fast his heart was beating. His fingers fiddled with the strap of his messenger bag as he wondered which stairwell to take this time. Whoever it was, the sensation grew stronger by the second. It was coming closer. It knew.

               Making it down to the first floor was a risk in and of itself. However, he wasn’t about to climb up to the fifth floor and wait to be confronted on the roof of the English department. Being on ground level spiked his senses up to max, and it was then the sensation from the other night downtown met him again. Whoever this person was, they were only steps away from him, but who might it be, among all these students? Was it even the same person as the one from the night at the udon shop?

               The exit of the English department building was only steps away once Kei laid his eyes on it, and at that point he could no longer control his footing, his legs carrying him into a semi-sprint for the doorway. The sensation in the back of his head was almost throbbing at this point; this person could be two steps behind him, right beside him, but all the blonde cared about was getting the hell out of there.

               _Three, two, one…!_

               “Oof!”

               It was like the timer on a bomb finally reached zero, but he didn’t quite feel the explosion yet. Kei stumbled on his feet and fell to the floor, having bumped into a person straight out of the doors of the English department building. His heart was racing and he was sure whoever it was that was following had found him.

               “Someone’s in a rush, eh?”

               The voice was unfamiliar, and so was his face, when Kei finally mustered the courage to open his eyes and look up at the man he bumped into. He looked tall, probably just as tall as Kei, but definitely broader in stature. His hair was a ruffled mess, like he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, pitch black and covering one of his eyes. But that face, from the condescending smirk to the slanted, narrowed eyes; he resembled the cat from one of the tales he’d read as a kid and he didn’t like it any single bit.

               The man outstretched a hand to him, which Kei promptly ignored while pushing himself off the floor and looking him straight in the eye.

               It was then that he realized just who exactly this man was.

               “Oh, _no_ , I am _not_ doing this today.” Kei hastily spun around and started to march off in the opposite direction but only stopped when the man spoke again.

               “You know who I am, don’t you?”

               The blonde stopped in his tracks and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and readjusting his glasses one more time before returning to the messy haired individual.

               With a seething whisper, he looked him straight in the eye and replied, “…Listen, I don’t know who you are and I don’t know how to explain myself right now, but I already know I don’t want anything to do with you and it would _really_ make my day if you just left me the hell alone. Please.” Kei stared at him blankly, his hooded eyes glaring straight at the stranger, who didn’t seem to be affected whatsoever.

               The man shrugged and smirked at him, only serving to further Kei’s frustrations. “...You know who I am, but are you _really_ sure you don’t want to know why you can sense my presence from far away? Not even a _tiny_ bit curious?” He winked at Kei through his long bangs, and the blonde could only return the gesture with contempt.

               Kei blinked and averted his gaze for a moment. This man…knew that Kei could sense his presence?

               “…Wait. How did you know I could sense your…whatever it is you wanna call it?” Kei kept blinking in confusion, just a little bit offed by the supernatural idea of _presences_ and _sensations_.

               The man raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, yes. Because I can sense your presence too.”

               Kei looked at him in disbelief, before scoffing and brushing him off. “…You’re joking, right? Are you wearing a mic on you? Where are the hidden cameras?”

               He was only met with a lighthearted laugh from the stranger. “You’re a funny guy, but nope, no cameras, no mics. But if you’ll let me pull you aside for just a _moment_ , I can tell you what’s going on with you.”

               “…Nope, no. I must be going crazy, totally. There was probably something in that udon, alright…I…” Kei sighed in exasperation and rubbed two fingers on his temples, trying to stifle the impending migraine.

               “Tell you what,” the man started, walking closer to Kei and placing a hand on his shoulder. “We can talk another time. Meet me tomorrow at noon in the university garden.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked at Kei. “The name’s Kuroo, by the way. Kuroo Tetsurou.”

               Kei eyed him suspiciously before shrugging Kuroo’s hand off of his shoulder. “…Tsukishima. Tsukishima Kei.”

               Kuroo nodded to him, his eyes closing sincerely behind those messy locks of his, before walking away in the opposite direction. Just like that, Kei could feel his presence slowly and steadily dissipating, confirming his doubts that he was the mystery person on his tail. Still, that explained nothing about why he could sense Kuroo coming a mile away, or why Kuroo even knew about his odd, psychic senses.

               _…This better not be some alien bullshit, I swear to God._

* * *

                Sometime later during lunch, Kei pulled up the school’s website and headed straight for the directory, intending to figure out where the university garden was…only to find out that such a thing doesn’t exist.

               “University garden? I thought you hated vegetables, Tsukki-“

               “That’s _beside_ the point, Yamaguchi.”

               Yamaguchi took a quite bite out of his sandwich and set it down, chewing it up and swallowing before replying to Kei. “Why’d you come to me for help then?”

               “I thought you’d know more about the university since you’re out of the apartment more than I ever will be.”

               The brunette scrunched his face in confusion. “That is partially true, but I don’t know anything about a garden anywhere around here, really… Have you tried looking it up on Google?”

               Kei was on it faster than the kids used to be back in high school, running to the front of the line to get their yakisoba bread. Not even two minutes later, and halfway into Yamaguchi’s sandwich, Kei had pulled up an obscure reference on the university’s confessions page on Facebook.

               “Look,” the blonde muttered, sticking his smartphone out to Yamaguchi and zooming the page in on a specific confession. “This guy posted something about finding a former…’potmate’ that he met at the university garden.”

               “Pot…mate?” Yamaguchi replied mid-chew, lettuce sticking out of his lips. “Wait,” he started again, swallowing his bite and clearing his throat before continuing. “Why are you so interested in this ‘university garden’ anyway?”

               Kei bit down on his lip pensively; he wasn’t about to spill about his odd little encounter just earlier that day, and the rest of his psychological baggage that happened to have something to do with it. “…Someone mentioned it in class today. That’s about it.”

               Yamaguchi stared him down from behind the straw of his drink, before shrugging and leaving Kei to continue his search for the elusive ‘university garden’.

               It was later that evening that he was finally able to track down some discussion about the so-called ‘university garden’; no such thing ever existed in all of the university’s history, but instead it was a local term for a…marijuana hotspot, so to speak. The overpass just behind the university, underneath was a frequent hangout for many pot enthusiasts.

               Kei’s nose scrunched in confusion and his initial thought was: _…what the fuck, Kuroo?_

* * *

                He didn’t actually have any classes on Friday, and he ended up almost sleeping in until noon until his eyes snapped open at the realization that he had to meet the mystery man himself if he wanted some answers to the odd phenomena that’s occurred to him his entire life so far.

               So there Kei was, trudging on campus grounds with slightly unkempt bed hair, and the slightest feeling of doubt in his gut that he could get murdered and Yamaguchi might have to come home in the afternoon to a bunch of police officers crowding outside their apartment. Then again, Kei did agree quite easily to this sketchy idea of meeting a stranger he just met the day before under an overpass, but considering he had _some_ idea about some of Kei’s psychological and otherwise supernatural-seeming issues, it was worth a try to see what this guy was all about.

               As expected, the so-called ‘university garden’ reeked of what Kei assumed was the stench of freshly smoked pot, not to say much of the litter that was found underneath the overpass. It was about as shady as shady could get, graffiti lining up the walls of the overpass and rogue vines entwining the wire fencing separating the area from the outside world. Kei sighed deeply; if he actually was going to get murdered, this would be the place to do it.

               The sound of gravel crunching behind him prompted the blonde to spin around. “You actually came! I was worried you would ignore what I said.” It came rushing back to him, that familiar sensation of a _presence_ standing right before him, which wasn’t there just a moment ago.

               Kei raised an eyebrow at the messy-haired man approaching him, striding over with his hands in his pockets. “As if I would throw away the opportunity to possibly get hacked to pieces behind my school and then get discovered by police a week later.”

               Kuroo chuckled at him. “Relax, I’m not going to hurt you. Maybe. We’ll see.”

               The blonde narrowed his eyes at him but forced himself to relax. “…So, what exactly are we going to talk about? It seems that you…have some knowledge that I felt you coming a mile away yesterday.”

               “Yes…yes I do,” Kuroo replied, watching him quietly from behind his long bangs.

               “Care to explain yourself then?”

               Kuroo raised a finger for a short moment, before pulling a cigarette pack out of his back pocket and popping one between his lips. The dark-haired man then raised his right hand to his face and snapped his fingers, producing a flame that sprouted right out of his thumb, causing Kei’s eyebrows to raise in awe and suspicion. Kuroo shook his hand away from his face, causing the fire to dissipate into thin trails of smoke.

               “You’re a magician, I see.”

               “Nope.”

               “A smoker, then.”

               “Nah.”

               Kei stared at him blankly through his lenses. “But, how did you…?”

               Kuroo pulled the cigarette from his lips and let out a puff of smoke. “I’m a pyrokinetic. I can manipulate fire, to put it into layman’s terms.” Before the blonde could respond, Kuroo suddenly engulfed the cigarette between his fingertips with fire, quickly reducing it to ash, which he dusted off his fingers with ease.

               Kei’s jaw dropped and he clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle a small gasp. He looked back at Kuroo, who looked just as neutral as he did a minute ago, as if that act of…sorcery, magic, witchcraft, whatever it was, was something he’s seen and done for years.

               “You. Tsukishima, was it? What can you do?” Kuroo returned the conversation to him and gave him a cheeky smile, shoving his hands back into his jean pockets.

               His pulse started to race and he failed to produce sound from his lips, instead coming out as a stutter. “…I-I don’t know. I certainly can’t do that, though.” _I’m not going to die here, am I?_

               Kuroo furrowed his eyebrows and stared him down, pursing his lips in response. “Surely, you can do _something_ , right? We wouldn’t be able to sense each other like this if you couldn’t do anything.”

               _Do something?_ Kei pulled his eyes away for a moment, staring down at his own palms.

               “Stand still.”

               His eyes shot wide open and he looked up at Kuroo, just in time to see him raise his right hand toward him.

               “ _Wait-_ “

               Before Kei could complete his sentence, the fire already exploded in front of his eyes, making them tear up and shut close from the heat. Kei threw his arms up in front of him, waiting to feel the intense, searing feeling seeping through the sleeves of his jacket, but he was only met with a lingering warmth in front of him, and the muffled sounds of the raging fire.

               Willing himself to figure out what the delay of pain was, Kei slowly cracked open an eye, then the other one, before both of them opened wide in shock at what he was witnessing in front of him.

               The fire was dispersing in front of him, as if there was a curved glass window in front of him. All of the flame soon dissipated, leaving a stunned-looking Kuroo standing in front of his outstretched arms.

               “…Force fields? Color me impressed.” He crossed his arms and smiled at him smugly.

               Kei’s mouth opened as if he was about to speak, but he couldn’t find the words to say and only managed to take another look at his palms. “…What just happened?”

               “I’m guessing your powers have only manifested themselves in stressful situations. Ever have anything of the sort happen to you when you were younger?”

               “I…” His mind felt like it was short-circuiting, as it was becoming incredibly difficult to form cohesive thoughts all of a sudden. “I got hit by a car when I was a kid. Well, not really _hit_ , but like…I didn’t get hurt from the impact.”

               “But I’m assuming the car got wrecked a little bit?”

               Kei nodded slowly to him, to which Kuroo only responded with a thin smile on his lips.

               “Care to explain what’s going on now? Why you…can burn things with your hands, and why I can generate force fields?”

               “Well,” Kuroo began to explain. “People like you and I are born with...powers. I don’t know where they come from, and no one’s been able to tell me why because the odds of meeting someone else who has powers like these is probably one in a million, give or take. Chances are, some people don’t even get to see such these manifest, really.”

               Kei raised an eyebrow at him. “So what makes you and I so special?”

               “You just demonstrated your power in front of me, and apparently you’ve already done so in the past. You already know I have powers too. And I _know_ you know that I can feel your presence from a distance too.” Kuroo responded with a smirk, raising his hands up in supposed agreement.

               Kei bit down on his lip and crossed his arms. “…If I’m connecting the dots here, only people with powers can…sense other people’s powers?”

               “Yep. You’re catching on quick…uh, Tsukishima, was it?”

               “Yes.” So the old man that died in the hospital when he was a child, and the older girl that moved away from his middle school, they were…?

               “Hey, uh…you wouldn’t happen to have been near an udon shop in Shinjuku this past weekend, have you?”

               The blonde’s eyes shot open and his hands immediately curled into fists. “ _Y-You!_ It was you! I almost thought I was going to die, oh my _fucking_ -“

               Kuroo chuckled at him. “Let’s talk another time. I’m sure I must be keeping you from some other arrangements. Let me give you my number.”

* * *

                That night, Kei lay in bed, staring up at his hands in the blurry darkness. He didn’t bother telling Yamaguchi about anything that happened, especially since he couldn’t understand it yet himself.

               _“just saying, if you ever feel another presence nearby, its probs just me lol”_

_“you really wanna make this a regular thing don’t you”_

_“I mean, WHO ELSE is going to be super folk just like us in this big city????”_

Kei rolled his eyes at that brief text message exchange. The chances of even finding someone else like the both of them in this giant city was likely close to one in the a million, but after today, Kei wasn’t quite sure he wanted to even find more fire-spewing freaks. He looked at his palms again today, still pale and un-callused, completely damaged after Kuroo’s little fire trick under the overpass. Can he control his powers now? He’d never actually seen it demonstrated before his eyes, and the last time he’d even activated them was back in high school.

               All of a sudden, his phone started buzzing on his bedside table. Kei turned and squinted at the bright little screen and reached for his glasses before picking up his phone. The caller ID clearly said “Kuroo Tetsurou” across the top of the screen.

               “…Why are you-“

               _“Are you alone right now?”_

               Kei blinked and rubbed his eyes. “What do you want?”

               _“I…I need you to meet me on campus as soon as possible. Right now, preferably.”_

“Kuroo, it’s almost one in the morning-“

               But Kei hears the slight shudder in Kuroo’s breath, and he figures that it might actually be worth his while to hear him out this time. “…I’ll meet you there.”

               And that was how he found himself meeting Kuroo at the university garden twenty almost twenty minutes later, huddled in the center of the darkness cupping a ball of flame in his hands.

               “What’s the issue? Why’d you call me out here all of a sudden?” Kei asked.

               The blonde watched the other man open his mouth, then suddenly bite down on his lip in hesitation. “I didn’t want to have to spring this on you just yet, but…we’re not safe.”

               Kei looked at him like he just spoke gibberish. “Kuroo, I _know_ we’re not safe. You can shoot fire out of your hands, _of course we’re not-_ “

               “Here, we’re not _safe here_.”

               “Kuroo, you’re not making any sense right now.”

               He watched as Kuroo took a deep breath and closed his eyes, before crushing the flame between his fingers. “...Look. There are people, out there, that don’t want to cooperate with us, and they want to, to put it lightly, _hunt us down_. Our location has been compromised, and we have, at the most, two hours to get a ride out of the city, _maybe_.”

               Kei opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing could come out.

               “I’m sorry this is so sudden, but you have to trust me, after everything I’ve told you these past two days. Tsukishima, I-“

               Before Kuroo could finish his sentence, the sound of heavy artillery fire made them both flinch, and suddenly the dark-haired man was ushering him behind a nearby pillar. “Fucking shit…!”

               Kei clutched at the concrete pillar behind him, his eyes flying open in the darkness at the sudden threat to his mortality. “What the hell is going on?!” He hissed, simultaneously glaring at Kuroo huddled beside him and forcing his blood pressure to go down.

               Kuroo turned to him, eyes steely and glowing in the darkness. “Tsukishima, I’m going to make this plain and simple. We’re only going to survive if you go out there and force field for me. Can you do that?”

               This was it; Kei was actually going to die. He could feel the concrete pillar vibrating behind them both as it got riddled with bullets.

               “ _What the fuck do you mean, ‘force field for me’?!_ ”

               “ _Just do it!_ ”

               In that instant, the heavy artillery spray barraged them again, and Kei screamed as he jumped out from behind the rapidly deteriorating support beam and forced his hands out in front of him, hoping that he wasn’t too late. He was still screaming when he realized that the sound of gunfire all around him became muffled, and he could physically see the shells dropping to the dirt in front of him. “Kuroo?! Kuroo!” But the pyrokinetic was nowhere to be found.

               Suddenly, everything around him went up in flames, and the explosive force alone was almost enough to let Kei drop his shield. The blinding heat and light brought tears to his eyes, and he forced them shut, silently hoping that all this chaos would go away.

               After what seemed like forever, Kei finally dispelled his force field, taking a moment to fully engross himself in the scenery around him. He was warm, almost hot even. Nothing but crackling flames around him, scorch marks on the concrete pillars and walls. To say nothing about the armored bodies of their assailants strewn across the dirt floor, slowly burning to death (if they already weren’t dead).

               Kei slowly lifted his gaze and stared at the man across from him, rising from the flames like some humanoid phoenix. But his ears were still ringing and he couldn’t quite tear his eyes off of the other man’s visage, his eyes glowing like the flames underneath him just behind his messy, black bangs. Kei could feel his blood pulsing, but he was paralyzed with a sensation like fear, even if he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, and something in the depths of his mind telling him to run.

               “…T-Tsukishima, are you alright?” Kuroo’s voice was barely audible over the sound of crackling flames, and the sounds of fire trucks and ambulances in the distance.

               Kei finally let out a gasp, but his throat felt hoarse and dry, and then he was rapidly shaking his head in defiance. In the span of forty-eight hours, Tsukishima Kei had one of the biggest mysteries of his life answered, at the cost of even more questions to rise in its place.

               “…No. I’m not.”


	2. you shouldn't be drowning on your own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If one had told Kei a year ago that he would start off his college career by almost dying in a shootout, then running away with some stranger he’s known for a good part of forty-eight hours, then he probably would have scowled at them and turned the other cheek. But now, sitting in his bedroom still smelling like gunpowder and smoke, and figuring out what kind of clothes he should stuff in his backpack, Kei would have gladly given everything to have been told of his fate beforehand.
> 
> Maybe staying in Miyagi would have been for the best, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i apologize for the insanely long delay since the first chapter and this one, it's just that the beginning of the semester had been extremely hectic, what with balancing schedule upon schedule upon schedule, but i promised myself i wouldn't leave this fanfic a sitting duck after having read a lot of everyone's comments and seeing the kudos stack on my first haikyuu fanfic
> 
> so i solely promise to update more often after this (it's just a matter of getting the next chapter started and well on its way h a h)

               His eyes were stinging from still being wide open at almost three in the morning, but after what had just happened, Kei wasn’t quite sure that closing them right now would be the best idea.

               Tsukishima Kei had superhuman powers. That phrase sounded alien to him, like something out of a terrible science fiction movie or one of the comic books he’d read as a child back when he had all the damns to give in the world.

               Now here he was in his living room in the middle of the night, languid on his couch while Kuroo was on his phone in another room. By now the campus was surely to have been swarmed with police, because who wouldn’t have heard the massive artillery fire being launched underneath the overpass, right? Kuroo suggested that it might tip off the police if they tried to leave immediately, but for their sake, they needed to relocate by sunrise unless they attract more attention from those mysterious gunmen.

               At least, as mysterious as Kei thought they were; Kuroo seemed to know a great deal more about them, and that was only going to be added to his ever growing pile of questions.

               The dark circles around Yamaguchi’s eyes made his usual soft-spoken demeanor look astonishingly threatening, especially as he sat across from Kei, staring at him like he was just told that Kei was pregnant.

               “…C-Can you run that by me again? You can – “

               “Can you throw that couch cushion at me, Yamaguchi?”

               “What?”

               “Just do it.”

               With slight hesitation, Yamaguchi picked up the cushion he was holding in his lap and lobbed it at Kei. Despite flinching as the soft material almost hit his face, he managed to produce a shield, deflecting the cushion and letting it fall to the carpet.

               “See that?”

               “Tsukki…what the hell?!” Yamaguchi’s jaw dropped and he cupped his face. “How long have you known about these powers?!”

               Kei groaned and rubbed his forehead. “I already told you I only found out about them when I met Kuroo-san.”

               Yamaguchi shifted his eyes over to the other room, where he could faintly hear the stranger Kei brought home talking on the phone with someone. “Is he…he’s not…?”

               “Yes, he’s just like me, and no, he’s…” Kei sighed and lowered his gaze, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “…He’s not going to hurt you. At least, I don’t think he will...,” he murmured.

               Yamaguchi closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “…So you mean to tell me that my best friend has superpowers but I’m not even going to be seeing him for a while?”

               “Yamaguchi, you know I would have asked you to come along if I knew it wouldn’t put your life at stake.”

               “But I’m your best friend! You can’t just _ask_ me to stay on the sidelines and act like everything is still the same when I know you’re going to be out there doing…whatever the hell it is that superpeople do. It’s not fair.” Yamaguchi sighed in visible frustration and stared at Kei, waiting for his response.

               “…I know we’re best friends, but that’s exactly why I’m asking you to just…stay behind. Safe. Just because I don’t know what I’m getting myself into, doesn’t mean that you should throw away your own life just to suffer like I am. We _literally_ just started college, Yamaguchi. Don’t be stupid.” Kei crossed his arms and averted his gaze from the brunette sitting across from him.

               “Am I…interrupting something?” They both looked up at the source of the voice, who was none other than Kuroo, walking into the living room and shoving his phone into his pocket. Now that he was in the gentle light of the living room lamps, Kei could see the traces of soot on his cheeks, probably from that little fire show he demonstrated just a while ago.

               “No. We were just finished talking,” Kei replied. Yamaguchi sighed and lowered his eyes to the carpet.

               “Well,” the dark-haired man resumed. “I just made a quick call to a buddy of mine. He’ll be here before sunrise to come pick us up. You can get some shut-eye right now if you want, or you can go and pack some stuff and get some sleep in his car.”

               The blonde let his eyes wander over to the bird-shaped wall clock (ugly little thing, Yamaguchi bought it at a thrift shop and wouldn’t let go of it) hanging behind his best friend. 3:06AM. Getting two hours of sleep would do nothing for him, and even then he still had to figure out what he was going to bring now that he was stowing away with some guy he met two days ago.

               If one had told Kei a year ago that he would start off his college career by almost dying in a shootout, then running away with some stranger he’s known for a good part of forty-eight hours, then he probably would have scowled at them and turned the other cheek. But now, sitting in his bedroom still smelling like gunpowder and smoke, and figuring out what kind of clothes he should stuff in his backpack, Kei would have gladly given everything to have been told of his fate beforehand.

               Maybe staying in Miyagi would have been for the best, after all.

 

* * *

 

               Some reason or another, once he shoved an optimal amount of clothes into his backpack without even checking to see what he had grabbed, Kei found the atmosphere of their apartment too stifling and stepped out, letting his feet carry him up the fire exit stairwell and out onto the roof of their apartment building. Unsurprisingly, Kuroo was also there, leaning over the railing and staring out over much of the visible Tokyo skyline.

               “Couldn’t sleep?”

               “Tch, like I could get some sleep in less than two hours,” Kei muttered, stepping up to the railing beside Kuroo. “Ah. I see you’re ‘not smoking’ again.” The blonde watched as the other man slipped the cigarette from his lips and blew out a puff of smoke.

               Kuroo shot him a lopsided smirk and offered him the cigarette. Kei simply raised a hand in refusal.

               “You know smoking causes you to die, right?”

               “Let’s see this flimsy piece of rolled-up paper pull a gun on me.”

               “Considering the things that have happened in the last forty-eight hours, that wouldn’t really be in the realm of impossibility.”

               Kuroo chuckled and tapped the cigarette over the railing, letting the excess ash blow over the edge. “At least you’re funny. That seems like a sign that we’ll be getting along just fine.”

               The blonde rolled his eyes at the messy haired individual. “…I still think you owe me some answers. Well, maybe not some, but a _lot_ of answers.”

               “I know. While I don’t think I can get all of them out in the few hours we have before my buddy Bokuto picks us up, I can start you off with the little things. What do you wanna know?” Kuroo fiddled with the cigarette between his fingers and looked at Kei.

               Kei sighed and looked up at the sky, straining to see the stars amidst the light pollution of the Tokyo skyline in the wee hours of the morning. “Let’s start with: who’s Bokuto?”

               “Ah. Simple enough,” the dark-haired man replied, taking another whiff of his cigarette. “Bokuto’s one of my pals, as you may already know. I met him a few years back, but more importantly, right around the time I started…running. Away.”

               “Is he…one of us?”

               “Mmm…yeah. Normally I’d call him a blockhead, but that really is him. He has super strength.”

               Kei’s eyes widened. “Super strength…ah, like Superman?”

               “Never call him that. He’s going to think he can fly and I don’t think Akaashi would like that,” Kuroo muttered, hiding a snicker under his breath.

               “Akaashi?”

               “Bokuto’s…uh. They’re kind of like, ‘partners in crime’, if you will. They’re close.”

               “Is he – “

               “Yeah he is.”

               The blonde continued to stare at him, expecting him to continue his little story, until Kuroo let out a soft “oh” and stopped staring back at him to keep talking.

               “He has ESP. Psychic powers and stuff. Bokuto says he’s a lot more powerful than he looks, but I’ve only really seen Akaashi bend spoons for him. Rational guy, but he doesn’t talk much though.”

               “Hm. Sounds like I’ll definitely get along with him, then.”

               Kuroo chuckled again and tapped his cigarette on the rooftop railing. “True.”

               Kei tapped his fingers on the railing and leaned back. “Let me guess; we’re going to be holing up in some…’safehouse’, probably a little shack by the ocean, for God knows how long?”

               “Close. Not a shack, but it’s a decent little hovel. Probably not going to have a spare room for the both of us, though.”

               “…Right.” The blonde sighed and rubbed his eyes for a moment. His life was…for the most part, about to change. Kei didn’t know why he was suddenly handing off the reins of his life into the hands of…a fire-spouting man he met just a few days ago, but after what just happened, it seemed like he might not have a choice in the matter anyway. He inwardly hoped that whoever it was that was coming to pick them up were just benevolent as Kuroo, if not more. Hopefully he didn’t just unknowingly sign his life off to some metaphorical devil, and whatever just happened was just some elaborate ruse to – whatever.

               Kei just hoped he wouldn’t die at the end of all this, whether he ultimately decided to stay with Yamaguchi, or go to who-knows-where with Kuroo. He may have wished for a more interesting life outside of Miyagi, but this wasn’t what he was hoping for.

               “You got any more questions for me?” Kuroo moved to mirror him, turning around and leaning against the railing with his elbows.

               “Uh…yeah.” The blonde pushed up his glasses and stared up at the sky. “Why should I trust you?”

               “Hmmm…don’t think that’s something I can directly tell you and have you accept at face value. Unless you want to, of course.”

               “You got a point. But still. I want to at least know why I’m supposed to be coming along with you guys…beyond what you’ve already told me, and what we’ve…both seen anyway.”

               Kuroo sighed. “Like I said, I don’t expect you to take everything at face value, but…this is the most I can do for someone like me. Like us. You already know that I’ve obviously had some history with those guys that tried to kill us earlier. That should be some validation that I know what I’m talking about.”

               Kei closed his eyes and exhaled. “…I guess I’ll take it.”

               “But y’know…if you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.” Kuroo winked at him before pushing himself off the railing and heading for the exit.

 

* * *

 

               Sleep didn’t quite come for Kei like he had hoped it would, so he spent the remainder of his time at the apartment lounging in his room, idly half-thinking about what kind of life he’ll be living with Kuroo and his friends and half-thinking about whether or not he packed enough underwear for his time away. He almost expected to be whisked away to some underground bunker straight out of the science fiction novels he read as a child, but decided that that was a little tad bit too ridiculous, even for his little mutant superpower scenario come true.

               At around five in the morning, he wasn’t quite sure if he had fallen asleep or just lulled himself into a trance when a brisk knock on his door roused him to his senses. Turning his head over to the door, it opened just a smidge, and Kuroo poked his head in, phone to his ear and all, and gestured for him to come out to the living room.

               “You’re in the parking garage? Alright, we’ll be out in a moment.”

               Kei hauled his backpack with him as he stepped out of his room and shut the door. Yamaguchi was huddled on the couch holding a cup of coffee, staring straight into its dark depths in the relative dim of the living room. He hadn’t noticed the brunette earlier when he and Kuroo retreated back to their apartment, but it didn’t seem like he had been asleep either judging from the dark circles around his eyes.

               “…I’ll be downstairs,” Kuroo muttered, awkwardly shifting his weight between his legs before turning around and leaving the both of them in silence.

               Kei let out a sigh first. “I’m leaving now, Yamaguchi.” No response. With a roll of his eyes, he hefted his backpack over his shoulder and marched over to the door.

               “…Text me every day.” Kei stopped in his tracks at the sound of Yamaguchi’s voice. “If you’re going to doing dangerous stuff without me, you might as well keep me updated so I don’t feel so lonely here in the apartment.”

               The blonde finally turned around to face Yamaguchi, immediately seeing him rise from the couch after setting his mug down on the coffee table. “I don’t quite agree with what you said, but at least don’t act like you’re throwing me out of your life all of a sudden. We’re friends, after all.”

               Kei rolled his eyes. “Correction: _best_ friends.”

               The brunette stared up at him with watery eyes, before letting out a quivery chuckle. “Y-Yeah.”

               “See you, Yamaguchi.”

               “You too, Tsukki.” Suddenly, Yamaguchi pulled him into a hug. “Seriously, if you get yourself killed, I’m going to be upset because that means I have to find a new roommate.”

               Kei snickered. “Alright, alright, let me go. Kuroo-san is waiting downstairs.”

               Yamaguchi reluctantly let go of his friend and wiped at his eyes. “Geez, I haven’t cried like this since our last volleyball tournament in high school. Off you go now, I don’t want to keep Kuroo-san and his friends waiting.”

               Taking a deep breath, Kei finally crossed the short way over to the front door. He looked over at Yamaguchi one last time and gave him a brief wave of his hand, before opening the door and stepping out of the apartment.

 

* * *

 

               As he took the elevator down to the ground floor, Kei idly wondered to himself what kind of people Kuroo’s friends were. Were they just as shady-seeming as Kuroo himself, or were they amiable and approachable? Not that Kuroo wasn’t _approachable_ , per say, but anyone that looked as messy and sly as him were certainly in the realm of unapproachable. The blonde ran over the details again in his head as the elevator slowly crept down to the garage level.

               Bokuto, super strength. Like “Superman,” Kei added. He already deduced that this was not the guy he’d like to be taunting to the edge of being irate, unless he wanted to be on the other end of a _very_ painful knuckle sandwich. Bokuto and Kuroo’s other friend, Akaashi…ESP, was it? Bending spoons? The info Kuroo gave him about the other superhumans in his little group was sparse, and he was left with a lingering doubt about his venture into the hidden world of superpowers, even as he descended into the parking garage.

               Right as the metal door slid open into the grayness of the concrete garage, just a few parking spaces away was a simplistic, gray sedan, with the paint peeling off at the hinges. Leaning against it was Kuroo himself, with his unmistakably messy black hair, along with two other individuals that he presumed were Bokuto and Akaashi himself. Beside Kuroo stood another tall person, with even crazier hair of black, white, and gray streaks that vaguely reminded him of an owl. He waved enthusiastically at Kei with a wide grin, making Kei furrow his eyebrows in apprehension. Situated just a few feet away from the both of them was a shorter man with short, wavy black hair, and an incredibly stunning poker face that Kei could not read whatsoever. The blonde easily surmised that the tall one with streaked hair was Bokuto, and his stern-looking friend was the psychic, Akaashi, just based off of the sparse details that Kuroo supplied him with earlier that night.

               With reservation painted all over his face, and a zip-tie on his heart, Kei trudged over to the trio, not quite prepared to meet more ‘people like him’. Just as Kei finally arrived within acceptable conversation radius, the man he presumed was Bokuto opened his mouth to speak, only for the man he thought to be Akaashi to interrupt him.

               “Greetings. My name’s Akaashi Keiji. It’s nice to meet another one like us.” Akaashi held his hand out in a respectable manner, and Kei, not one to look ungrateful or impolite unless on purpose, almost had a second of hesitation before slipping his hand in Akaashi’s.

               “Tsukishima Kei. Kuroo-san here told me about you. And you,” Kei gestured toward the other, his grin wide and his hair even more ridiculous-looking up close, “must be Bokuto-san.”

               “Bokuto Koutarou, nice to meet you!” The way Bokuto puffed up his chest and smiled widely at Kei made him almost laugh, as he almost expected him to start hooting at any moment right after. “So _you’re_ the force field guy that Kuroo mentioned on the phone, huh? Think you can show us a few tricks, right now-“

               “That wouldn’t be wise, Bokuto-san.”

               “But – “

               “I think we can get him to show us a few tricks once we’ve managed to leave this area,” Kuroo interjected, pushing Bokuto along the side of the car. “Isn’t that right, Tsukishima?” He stared at Kei pointedly, those feline-like eyes of his looking simultaneously mischievous and unreadable. The sensation of him looking Kei in the eye at such a tight distance made him just the slightest bit uncomfortable, though not necessarily not in the way that one might usually have when having a lone conversation with a stranger.

               “…Yeah, whatever.”

 

* * *

 

               The ride out of the city was just as uneventful as he had expected it would be, but there was something to be gleaned from seeing the tall skyscrapers and bright lights piercing the dark night suddenly open up to open road and vast, clear sky. While Kuroo and Bokuto held conversation at a respectable volume in the front seats, Kei and Akaashi sat in the back in relative silence, and Kei managed to keep his eyes glued to the window in order to avoid facing the awkward atmosphere between him and the esper. The last thing he remembered before fatigue finally set into his system was the sun just peeking over the horizon, the harsh orange rays streaking past the fluffy, lavender clouds and then spilling into the midnight blue of the previous night.

               In his dream, he is back at the hospital from his childhood, trudging through the pristine hallways with his mother in order to get to his brother’s room. It was a scene he’d already experienced before; they would get to his brother’s floor, he starts to feel a chill on the back of his neck, the old man and Kei make eye contact, and the chills would disappear when the old man seemingly passes away in his wheelchair. But for some reason, the old man isn’t here this time. Where Kei would have seen him down the hallway, there is nothing but empty space.

               “C’mon, Kei, let’s go see Akiteru now.” Kei blinks and turns to face his mom. Her voice is wispy and ethereal, echoing slightly as if she were speaking to him through a film of water. It is then that Kei notices he’s looking down at her, instead of up, and he is his present self, instead of the naïve toddler that he used to be. Before he has time to hesitate, his mother is already tugging him inside the room. Similarly, the Akiteru that lays in the bed before them both is not the Akiteru from when he was younger, but rather the Akiteru that he just left back in Miyagi about a month ago. He smiles sheepishly at Kei and their mother like nothing is absolutely off, and it’s then that Kei realizes just how much of a dream this entire sequence really is.

               “This is ridiculous,” Kei mutters under his breath, but Akiteru and his mother don’t hear him. Kei sighs and closes his eyes, then opens them again.

               “I’m alright, Kei.” Akiteru’s voice slowly drowns in the sound of crackling fire, and in that very moment, everything wrong in this dream has suddenly become worse. Kei’s eyes widen as the hospital room is suddenly ablaze, and he finds himself surrounded by wild fire on all sides. His mother and Akiteru are nowhere to be found, and there is only a body-shaped indent in the slowly crisping sheets where his brother originally lay.

               “Tsukishima.”

               The voice is low and barely audible over the crack of the fire. The fire licks at his arms, but he doesn’t feel any pain, only incredibly warmth.

               “Tsukishima.”

               Kei wonders where that voice is coming from, but he knows it to be very familiar, in the context that he’s heard that voice very recently, but it’s not anyone that he knows personally.

               “Tsukishima.”

               Kei slowly turns around in place, finding the origin of that familiar voice. Standing directly in front of him is Kuroo, his eyes glazed over with the same ferocity that was there when he burned all those gunmen to a crisp right before him. Suddenly, Kei’s heart is racing and he makes to take a deep breath, only for his breath to catch in his throat and –

               “ _Tsukishima._ ”

               Kei began to wake, stirring in his seat and coming upon the realization that a ray of sunshine had been hitting him square in the face, making him squint and groan while simultaneously scrambling to adjust his askew glasses. “Have I died yet? Because that’s what I feel like right now,” Kei grumbled, sitting up in his seat and trying to orient himself with his surroundings.

               “Unfortunately, no, you haven’t. On the other hand, we’re here! Rise and shine, moonchild.” Kuroo let out a gruff chuckle and Kei managed to shake off the feeling of embarrassment just long enough for him to actually see where they had finally finished their little trip out of the city.

               They were in a residential space from what Kei could see, but this type of scenery was something he was already used to from back home. The rows of small houses along a single street, and not a single skyscraper in sight reminded him of home. “Where are we?”

               “We’re in Fukushima right now,” Akaashi explained, moving to exit the car.

               “Can’t you just smell the ocean? It’s wonderful!” Kei watched as Bokuto stepped out of the driver’s seat and stretched his arms, making a wide, sweeping motion with his hands.

               “Fukushima, huh…” That was only about an hour or so away from Miyagi. At least he knew that if he ever needed to make a quick getaway, going home would be a faster – and safer – option than returning to Tokyo. Kuroo clapped him on the shoulder as he stepped out of the sedan as well.

               “This is where we’ll be staying. It’s not much, but it looks inconspicuous enough, no?” Kuroo watched him through his fringe for a reaction, and then the rest of them came around to his side of the car to gauge his reaction as well. Akaashi remained pensive but stone-faced as he had been, yet Bokuto proudly puffed his chest and smirked at him, crossing his large arms over his chest all the while. Kei blinked at the three of them before directing his attention to the house right behind them. The house from the outside looked like anything he’d already seen from living in the countryside suburbs, nothing too spectacular, but at least it didn’t look like they might have been smuggling dead bodies full of drug paraphernalia in there.

               “Splendid.”

               “I told you he’d like it.”

               “You said no such thing, Bokuto-san.”

               Akaashi and Bokuto quickly fell into lighthearted banter, which Kei immediately drowned out. It hadn’t dawned on him until now just how much had happened in the past few days. It was as if he needed to continually fall back into mental stasis just to remember that he was, in fact, someone with supernatural powers, and that he had just left his best friend back in Tokyo in order to obtain asylum with three other strangers with powers like his, one of whom had singlehandedly killed a small gaggle of gunmen that tried to kill them both.

               “Hey…you alright?” A light grip on his shoulder brought Kei back to the present, and he turned to see Kuroo still standing beside him, staring intently at him through his long bangs. Kuroo himself didn’t look any worse for wear, but it didn’t seem like he slept much throughout their time on the road, what with the talkative Bokuto at the helm of the car beside him.

               Kei slowly pushed his hand off his shoulder, a sharp intake of breath surging through his lungs at the feel of his fingers briefly coming into contact with Kuroo’s skin; he wasn’t all fire and burning like he originally thought. “I-I’m…I’m fine. No need for your concern.”

               Kuroo nodded and slipped his hands in his jacket pockets once more. “Alright…just remember: if you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask.” He nudged his shoulder with Kei playfully before heading off in the direction of the front door, a tinge of a smirk hanging off the corner of his lips.

               A deep sigh reverberated in his lungs; it was difficult to place his trust in someone like Kuroo if his words were laced with such velvety timbre. With a certain reluctance in his step, Kei hefted his bag over his shoulder and followed the other three inside the house.

               _I’m going to die here, aren’t I?_

 

* * *

 

               The house was definitely and specifically made out to be something that could be occupied and evacuated on a whim, though certainly without arousing suspicion should anyone be sent to search the home after its residents had already left the premises. If anything, it reminded Kei of his own home, just without the pretentious Karasuno memorabilia haphazardly thrown about (his mother was about his and Akiteru’s ‘biggest fan’) as well as a considerable lack of picture frames and photo albums. As he quickly learned, the house had three bedrooms, all of which belonged to one of the trio that he had driven with from Tokyo.

               “And you’ll be sleeping in my room,” Kuroo told him, leaning on the dining table with a mug of coffee in his hands. Akaashi offered to prepare brunch for everyone, and Bokuto sat across from him at the dining table, grinning devilishly while clasping his hands together in front of him.

               “No, it’s fine, I can take the couch, can’t I?” Kei retorted, but Kuroo brushed him off.

               “Nonsense. You’re the guest here.”

               “Indefinitely.”

               “Indefinitely.” Kuroo smirked at him again over the rim of his coffee cup, and Kei couldn’t help himself from letting out a small ‘tch’ of disgust.

               “ _Right_.”

               “At least I’ll have to thank you for finally providing with some company against these two,” Akaashi called out from the kitchen. “I may seem like I can handle these two fine, but that’s only out of necessity.”

               Kei looked at both Bokuto and Kuroo for answers. “He’s technically not wrong,” Bokuto muttered in agreement.

               Kei blinked at both of them and made furrowed his eyebrows in contempt, before turning his head to the kitchen, where Akaashi was currently at work. He opened his mouth to speak, watching him chop onions with a knife before the esper left the knife to whisk the eggs in a bowl. He was stunned silent as the knife remained chopping the onions, its handle working in the mid-air while Akaashi whisked the eggs in another corner of the kitchen.

               “I don’t know if you know, Tsukishima-kun, but Akaashi is an esper,” Bokuto whispered.

               “He already knows, Bokuto-san.”

               Of course, Kei originally thought that even parlor tricks like these would have been largely unimpressive, but actually seeing it with his own eyes, no strings attached, no animatronics, nothing whatsoever; this was truly supernatural power at work here.

               Kei idly wondered if there was a pile of bricks in the backyard that Bokuto had been collecting solely for the purpose of destroying with his bare fists.

               “Impressive, ain’t it?” Kuroo murmured to him, taking the sext adjacent to Kei and setting down his mug of coffee (black, which Kei noted wasn’t too off-character for someone like Kuroo). “…Well, it’s honestly not the _most_ impressive thing in the world, but it’s always a sight to behold, y’know?”

               “…I suppose.” Kei sighed and stared at his own hands, pressed flat against the dining table. Until a few days ago, he was by all means a perfectly normal human being. Until a few days ago, he lived a perfectly sane and normal university life. Until a few days ago, he didn’t know that he was able to make invisible, impenetrable surfaces with his own hands. Would he really learn to live with something like this? With other people – blessed or cursed – just like him? For all he knew, Kei could possibly fall into a simple life once more, just with an obvious lack of social interaction, but even then, that was alright. Kei liked solitude, but he didn’t like monotony. Maybe living with these three miscreants might be the break from monotony that he had been desperately asking for.

               However, it was entirely possible that things could go completely south from here. The gunmen could return and maybe that time, his powers won’t be as lenient as they were. Maybe his suspicions were correct, and he was about to be butchered and his parts scattered and buried throughout Japan. Maybe-

               “Tsukishima? Are you sure you’re alright?”

               Kei rushed back to the present and found himself gasping for air.

               “You were spacing out again,” he heard Akaashi say from the kitchen.

               “Yo, if you need any medicine or whatever, just tell me, I can run down to the drugstore and pick something if you need it…?” Bokuto stared at him with engorged eyes, a look of genuine concern painted on his face that actually surprised Kei.

               “If it would help, I have finished preparing your meals.” Akaashi strode out of the kitchen holding two omelettes in his hands, and a bowl of rice topped with fish floating in mid-air right after him. “An omelette for Bokuto-san and for you, Tsukishima-kun, then a rice and fish for Kuroo-san. It would be best to try and get something in your stomach after a long night.” The esper patted his back reassuringly, and Kei found it somewhat comforting to hear an intonation of emotion in the esper’s otherwise monotonous and deadpan voice. He looked down at the omelette that Akaashi had placed in front of him; it smelled fragrant yet it looked simple, much like the omelettes that his own mother had used to make for him and Akiteru when they were children. Even if he once said that he had tired of them, Kei could not think of any other meal better to ‘begin’ his day with.

               With a brief nod of thanks to the esper, he found himself digging into the meal almost enthusiastically, by some miracle of God somehow managing to maintain an image of orderliness and not seeming like he’d been staving off hunger for the past few hours.

 

* * *

 

               “So, this’ll be your room for the meantime. I hope everything’s to your liking, though really, there’s not much I can tell you about this room aside from it being…well, a room.” Kuroo pushed the door open and led Kei inside the small chamber. Four walls, with a window opposite the door, a desk with a chair, a shelf, a drawer and a bed on the other side next to the closet. The walls were this very pale and very dull blue that Kei felt belonged on the wall of some infant instead. The only window in the room was covered in similarly dull, reddish pink curtains that looked like they were better off used as someone’s dish rag. It was as pedestrian as Kuroo himself described it as, but already Kei could feel like he was intruding on something a little private.

               “You can leave your stuff in here, though I think I’ll have to go out and get you your own drawer soon…” Kei noted the softer, gentle tone in the pyrokinetic’s voice, and it was almost startling how much that could change one’s perspective of a person. Even though Kei knew he was bound to spring back into his regular self any moment now, he appreciated this other side of him. “…So. What do you want to do? I don’t suppose you stuffed a game of _Monopoly_ inside your backpack, or maybe even shogi.” Kuroo pulled the chair out of his desk and situated himself on it, straddling the back of the seat and watching Kei with those familiar feline-like eyes.

               “I don’t like shogi.”

               “Noted. Did you pack a book with you?”

               “I would have, but I was under the impression that we were to only bring the bare necessities,” Kei muttered, seating himself at the edge of Kuroo’s twin-size bed. An odd thought formed in his head, mostly him wondering how a tall individual like Kuroo could fit in such a small space, and then how _he himself_ was going to accomplish the same feat.

               The dark-haired man shrugged. “You ever need anything, I’ll try and ask Bokuto if we can go into town to hunt it down. There’s a bookstore with maybe… _something_ you’ll like.” He smirked at him again, that slight upturn of the right side of his lips, and Kei had to stop himself from visibly inhaling in front of him. Kuroo stood from the chair and instead leaned on the edge of his desk, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Just remember: if you ever need anything – “

               “ – don’t hesitate to ask. Got it.”

               “You catch on quick,” Kuroo replied, that tinge of a smirk still tugging on his lips.

               Kei clasped his hands together and clacked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “…Can I ask you something then?”

               “Hit me,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

               “Since you were gracious enough to lend me this bed for the time-being, I’m actually about to collapse any moment from now from combined fatigue and stress, so unless you want this side of the house to explode from a stress-induced force field bubble, I would _really_ appreciate it if I got some alone time. Y’know, a couple hours, maybe a whole day would be nice.”

               Kuroo’s eyebrows raised just a tad bit at Kei’s descriptive request (especially delivered in such a stone cold visage), but nodded in compliance anyway. “As you wish. I’ll be outside if you need anything.”

               The door to his room closed with a click, and it wasn’t until Kei could hear Kuroo’s footsteps fading away that he finally released the breath he had been holding this entire time. The blonde grimaced and pulled off his glasses, neatly folding them and placing them on top of his backpack, still situated on the floor. Deciding to make good on his word, he flopped onto Kuroo’s bed and stared at the ceiling, at a loss for what exactly he was supposed to think of now. Proper rest really seemed like the best way to go at the moment, and Kei rolled over onto his stomach (for as much space as the small bed could allow).

               He didn’t realize how much he missed his own bed already until he realized he was losing consciousness on the tenderness of Kuroo’s pillow. His pillow smelled like detergent, hazelnut coffee, and faintly like burnt cigarettes, but Kei didn’t seem to mind at all.

 

* * *

 

               “So how’s the new kid? He alright?” Bokuto asked as Kuroo strode into the living room, flopping onto the couch with a deep breath.

               “Yeah, he’s alright. He just wanted to be alone right now. Probably tired, but I won’t blame him.”

               “I forgot to ask this earlier but, how was your search in Tokyo? Did you…did you find Kenma?” Bokuto’s voice was grim and low, like he wasn’t meant to speak such words out loud.

               Kuroo inhaled deeply and ran a hand through his messy locks. “…I seemed to have had a lead, but I was only in Tokyo for so long before I stumbled on Tsukishima and _they_ found me. Hence, here we are.” His voice was laced with a tinge of frustration, and Bokuto eyed his hands carefully, especially with the way they were gripped on the armrest of the couch. They just might ignite any moment now.

               “When are you planning on heading back?”

               Kuroo sighed. “…Hopefully soon. But not just yet. I just don’t know how I’m going to get back without leaving our little force field friend behind.”

               “Why not bring him along, dude? He sounds like he could be a useful asset.”

               “…If it’ll make finding Kenma easier, then by all means.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter wasn't meant to be too intense, unlike the previous chapter  
> i have this extremely terrible habit of making chapters that are consistently BAM BAM BAM after each other, but if i try to break that formula then the chapters end up sounding monotonous and too expository. i really, /really/ hope i accomplished in finding a nice middle ground for this chapter, but i promise to amp it up just a bit more in the next one (once i figure out where i'm going with this plot h a h)
> 
> until then~


	3. what are perfect places anyway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like they say, keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer, and while he and Kuroo weren’t exactly friends, he posed an immediate enough threat for him to be placed in the latter bracket. But Kei was willing to let this one slide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i really REALLY apologize for updating this so DAMN LATE LMAO (like...seven months.) it turns out both my fall and spring semesters were the absolute death of me so I was never able to put aside any time for this fanfic
> 
> BUT I DON'T GIVE UP AND I DON'T QUIT (neither should you, reader, reading this fic)  
> i'm currently out of school so I can pay more attention to the fanfic over the summer before school starts, and then we'll see from there how well i can keep this thing updated <3

               Kei never pegged himself to be a night owl. Like any other regular human being should, he went to sleep at a decent time and always woke up to the first ring of his alarm. This was always how it had been for him. While idiots like Kageyama and Hinata had been up all night doing who knows what (like arguing on Facebook about something Hinata posted), and Yamaguchi may have been caught up marathoning the newest shounen anime, Kei was instead busy finishing his homework, his headphones sitting squarely on his ears as his mechanical pencil scribbled away on his workbooks. Life was simple, and it shouldn’t have been any harder for the rest of his peers to be just like him.

               Kei wasn’t a night owl. But when things become strange and real life becomes strange, only the solace and quiet of night would leave him with ample space to think. At least, he thought it would be give him the peace of mind, because when you answer the text of some stranger at God-knows-when in the morning, things are going to get…strange. He never quite thought about how an all-nighter might negatively affect his sleeping schedule or his psyche, but when said all-nighter consisted of fending off some gunmen, meeting three superhumans, and completely leaving behind a normal way of life on a moment’s whim, then perhaps “negatively” might be an understatement.

               Upon opening his eyes and being met with nothing but darkness, for a split-second Kei hoped that he had just woken up from a terrible, terrible dream, and that he never actually responded to Kuroo’s text message, having fallen asleep in the middle of typing. But when he realized that the bed he was sleeping on was definitely not his, as well as the cramped living space he was currently situated in, he knew it was all wishful thinking. The faint smell of cigarettes and ash permeated the air and he quickly realized just how dry his throat was, that he needed some water to rejuvenate himself and perhaps get the cogs in his head moving smoothly again.

               The tall blonde stumbled out of the small room, quietly closing the door behind him as he tried to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness of the living room. While it was morning when Kei had fallen asleep, a quick glance outside the windows of the living room indicated that it was past sundown, probably evening then. The living room itself was mostly empty, and only the back of someone’s head, covered in short, black tufts of hair, situated on the couch in front of the TV. No sign of Kuroo or the other one with the tall, spiked hair.

               “Ah, Tsukishima, you’ve awakened.”

               “Where are…where’s Kuroo?” Tsukishima hobbled over to the other side of the couch, where the esper – Akaashi, was it? – was sitting with a magazine in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. He didn’t bother looking up at the blonde even though he’d been asked a question.

               “Kuroo and Bokuto left an hour ago to get some amenities. Toiletries and such. It’s not as if we’d be willing to share a toothbrush with you, after all.”

               “…Right.” Kei sat himself down in the recliner next to the couch, maintaining a comfortable yet not too obvious distance from the stranger he just met.

               “If you’re hungry, there’s some dinner leftover on the dining table. Help yourse – “

               “Not hungry. Sorry.”

               “Ah.”

               Kei was becoming increasingly self-aware of how awkward the situation was becoming. At least with Kuroo around, he could at least get some conversation starting because they already had some acquaintanceship going on, and Bokuto looked the type that would be able to swoop in and snatch the conversation from under his feet if given the chance to enter it. But between him and the intimidating esper, it seemed like his tongue was tied. His throat was still parched as well.

               “…Do you know where – “

               “Glasses are in the dishwasher.”

               Kei’s eyes widened. “Uh. Thank you.”

               “I figured you’d be thirsty if you weren’t hungry. There’s some water in the fridge.”

               Before suffering more agonizing awkwardness in front of Akaashi, Kei quietly excused himself and walked to the kitchen, finding a clean glass in the dishwasher and quickly pouring himself some water from the refrigerator. Kei downed the entire glass in one swig, letting out a sigh of relief as the dryness in his throat finally dissipated.

               “Maybe you’d like to chat while the other two are out? I reckon it’ll be a while before they get back.”

* * *

               “Do you think we can get Tsukishima to demonstrate some of his powers when we get back? I can throw a mean brick, y’know.”

               “I don’t think it’s wise for us to be drawing out his power when he’s this tired, Bokuto. Besides, we should be letting ourselves lay low anyway after the mess we caused in Tokyo.”

               Bokuto sighed dejectedly as he turned the wheel on the car. While Kei had been sleeping for most of the day, the two of them decided to take it up on their own to go out and get some more things for the house now that they gained another ally. Luckily, there was a local department store that allowed them to get a lot of the items they needed, like clothing for him as well as extra soap, shampoo, and even a toothbrush. (Bokuto insisted on getting a yellow one with bristles in the shape of a stegosaurus.)

               “You think he’ll be awake when we get home? He’s been out like a light the _entire_ day. The last time I slept as deeply as that was when – “

               “ – you pissed off Akaashi by thinking you can survive getting hit by a car. He was so angry about how reckless you were that he made you pass out with the world’s worst migraine. I remember that day clearly, just because of how fucking funny that was,” Kuroo replied, chuckling to himself as he opened the bag of gummy bears in his hands.

               “That was _so_ not funny, dude.”

               “No, yeah, yeah it was.”

               “Toss me a gummy bear, will you?” Bokuto turned his face to Kuroo, who deftly tossed a pale yellow gummy bear into his awaiting mouth. “Ugh, gross. It’s banana-flavored,” he muttered, chewing the candy regardless.

               Kuroo narrowed his eyes in thought. _…Getting hit by a car, huh?_

               “Y’know, Tsukishima told me his powers first manifested when he was hit by a car as a kid. Well. Not _hit_ by a car, but…”

               “Whoa, really? Did he break any bones?”

               “No, but he did break the guy’s bumper. Giant ass dent.”

               Bokuto whistled, then broke out into a wide grin. “I wanna try punching through his force field. Think he can take it?”

               “Eyes on the road, you goof.” 

* * *

               “So you and Bokuto-san have – “

               “Yeah. Since we were kids. Bokuto never knew his parents, but he didn’t let that bother him. He always knew that…he was destined for greater things, I guess. He just didn’t have the most ideal of family situations because he could be a bit…difficult to work with and he just kept jumping between families until we met in middle school. The last home that took him in didn’t have the most welcoming patriarch, and he’d just learned to live with the abuse.” Akaashi sighed and looked down at his hands, clasped together around his mug of coffee. “I guess that’s how his power manifested; he found a way to deal with the beatings.”

               Kei held his breath and studied the esper’s reactions. This was a bit of a difficult story to talk about, it seemed, and it was the first time that he could physically see a semblance of raw emotion painted on Akaashi’s face, however subtle it might have been. Still, he kept his silence and let Akaashi continue talking.

               “My own house wasn’t any better. My mother is – _was_ very conservative, and she seemed to have lost it altogether once my father was out of the picture. You see, he left us when I was still very young, so I only have inklings of my memories of us together. My mother devoted the rest of her time to pursuing a faith, but I think that served to only make things worse.”

               With hesitance, Kei took the moment to interject the conversation. “…May I ask, when did your powers surface?”

               Akaashi regarded him for a brief moment before nodding. “Ah, yes. They awakened around the time I met Bokuto-san in middle school.” He let out an awkward cough. “I was never really friendly with anyone my age, so when Bokuto and I became friends, he was the first one I showed my powers to.”

               “And I take it, he was excited?”

               “Ecstatic, to be accurate.” Akaashi paused to take a sip from his mug. “We remained friends up until high school, but… Let’s just say my mother found out about the psychokinesis, among… _other_ lifestyle choices that she disapproved of. Things got…messy, I called Bokuto, and we just...ran.”

               “Ran? Ran away?”

               “No looking back.” The esper shook his head and regarded Kei with that same unreadable face once more. “It wasn’t long before we ran into Kuroo, and we decided to live together, just getting by with odd jobs here and then. It’s not so bad.”

               Kei nodded in understanding. He was just the slightest bit curious to know what exactly went down between Akaashi and his mother, as well as whatever else she disapproved of in a son like him, but he figured that all the information he just divulged was generous enough on his behalf.

               “I…thank you, for sharing that story with me, Akaashi-san.”

               “It’s no matter to me,” the esper replied, with just the slightest tinge of a smile on his lips. The act alone was enough to unnerve Kei. “It’s a relief talking about such things with people that aren’t Bokuto and Kuroo.”

               Kei opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of the front door opening with the jingling of keys.

               “We’re hooooome!” The big man with the owl-shaped gray hair came bounding into the room with two bags full, while the now-familiar looking pyrokinetic stepping into pace behind him with more bags in tow.

               _Speak of the devil_ , Kei thought to himself as Bokuto and Kuroo walked inside the living room and placed the bags on the coffee table. He made brief eye contact with the dark-haired male, who only flashed him a subtle yet dry smile, which left Kei just a tad bit uneasy.

               “Took you both long enough. I hope you didn’t spend all of our savings on frivolous items,” Akaashi mumbled, leaning forward to take a look at one of the plastic bags.

               “Don’t worry, Akaashi. We just went to pick up some clothes for Tsukishima since he’s going to be staying with us for a while,” Kuroo interjected.

               The blonde’s eyes widened and he set down his empty glass on the coffee table. “N-No, you shouldn’t have. This is all too much – “

               “Nonsense. You barely packed maybe a week’s worth of clothing in that bag of yours. You’re going to need more things to wear if you’re staying with us. We used Akaashi's and my own measurements, so I hope these things will fit,” he replied coolly, pulling a sweater out of one of the bags, holding it up for Kei to see. Kei stared at the article of clothing blankly, minding the plain, green patchwork dinosaur on the front. “It was on sale.”

               “…Right.”

               “Oh, and we got you this too!” Bokuto dug inside a bag and pulled out the yellow dinosaur toothbrush and handed it to Kei, who regarded it with similar disbelief. “I picked it out!”

               Kei looked down at the toothbrush in his hand, then again at the pale blue sweater, and suddenly realized that the other three superhumans in the room were staring at him. His cheeks burning, he quickly bowed his head in reverence, and partially to avert his gaze from them.

               “T-Thank you. This means a lot to me.”

               Bokuto let out a laugh and bounced onto the couch next to him, clapping him on the back with a force that made Kei let out a hacking cough. “Ah, don’t mention it. Any friend of Kuroo’s is a friend of mine. Ain’t that right, Akaashi?”

               “Bokuto-san, please be more careful.” Kei’s eyes were bulging out of their sockets as the esper rubbed a soothing hand where Bokuto’s palm had smacked him.

               The strong man sheepishly grinned and pulled his hand away, scratching at the back of his neck apologetically. “Ah, whoops. Sorry ‘bout that.”

               “Anywho,” Kuroo spoke, crouching low in front of the coffee table across from him so that they were at eye level with each other, “how are you feeling? You’ve been asleep all day, I was…getting a bit concerned you might not wake up.”

               The blonde blinked at him. He should really try and get used to all the kindness he would be receiving from these folk. Or at least get it out of his head that these people weren’t out to murder him and sell his organs overseas.

               “I…I’m fine. I needed the rest anyway. Thanks for the concern.” Kei cleared his throat awkwardly while looking at the rest of the bags. “Are these really all for me?”

               Kuroo stood up and placed his hands on his hips, staring back down at the bags. “Well, some of it is just toiletries. There’s some chips and candy that Bokuto picked up. But these bags of clothes are all for you.” He flashed Kei a dry smile and the blonde could only manage a nod.

               “Ah. Thank you.”

               As the room started to clear out, with Akaashi putting away some of the toiletries, Kuroo stuffing some of the food in the kitchen cupboards, and Bokuto stalking away with some of the candy, Kei was left to himself and his own thoughts in the living room.

_Living here doesn’t seem too bad already. At least, it seems like I’ll be able to tolerate Kuroo and Bokuto. And Akaashi-san is nice company, even if he is kinda intimidating and very quiet._

               “Ah.” Kei remembered that he promised to keep in touch with Yamaguchi. It was the least he could do for bouncing on his best friend after the sudden revelation that he did, in fact, harbor superhuman powers. As quick as he could manage, he fished his phone of his pocket and turned it back on, having turned it off prior to leaving Tokyo per Kuroo’s request (just a safety precaution). As soon as the smartphone screen came back to life, it had started buzzing nonstop, presumably from all the missed calls and messages he had received over the past twelve hours.

               Kei sighed and offered himself a quirked, if sincere, smile of relief. “Don’t worry, Yamaguchi. I’m not giving up this easily.” 

* * *

               It was already too late when Kei realized that he was technically stuck with Kuroo in the living room once Akaashi and Bokuto retired to their prospective rooms for the night. He wasn’t tired yet after sleeping in the entire day, but it would be…discourteous and awkward to leave the room now, especially after the pyrokinetic stepped out of the bathroom after freshening up before heading in for the night. Kei noted how he strode into the living room in sweatpants and a t-shirt, with a pillow tucked under his arm and a blanket slung over his other shoulder.

               “Ah, you must be ready to sleep now. I’ll be heading into the other room then so I don’t disturb you any – “

               “Nonsense, Tsukki. You can stay here, you don’t have to go yet,” Kuroo hushed him, that same characteristic smirk painted on his face as he plopped down on the couch next to him.

               “Tsukki?” Kei gave him a look at the utterance of the one-off nickname that only Yamaguchi and his brother called him.

               “Your friend called you that, right? Is it weird if I say it?”

               “No. Well…yes. Yes it is, but I don’t mind. My name is too long anyway,” Kei replied, feigning disinterest. He never did like that name, but hearing it made things seem a bit more familiar and homely in this strange, alien space.

               “Alright. Well, since we’re still here, why don’t we continue talking about each other? It sounded like you were getting along pretty well with Akaashi, and I think I still owe you more questions, don’t I?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow and stared at Kei expectantly. The blonde only narrowed his eyes at him, but brushed aside the expression.

               “Akaashi-san is…interesting, to say the least. I’d personally like to know more about him, but I don’t want to seem like I’m intruding on anything. I’d also hate to be on the receiving end of whatever he can dish out with that brain of his…”

               Kuroo let out a laugh, to which Kei only returned the same raised-eyebrow expression. “What’s so funny?”

               “No, it’s just that, I’ve seen what Akaashi has done before. To Bokuto, specifically, and it was probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed.”

               “…On second thought, I don’t wanna know. What I wanna know now, is more about you. I think I learned enough about Superman and the psychic in one sitting, but I’m still drawing a blank from you aside from what you told me on the roof yesterday…which wasn’t much.”

               “Curious, are we?” Kuroo replied with a smirk, nudging the blonde in the shoulder. Kei didn’t play along. “Well, what else do you wanna know?”

               “Akaashi-san was open enough to tell me about how he got his powers, when he met Bokuto-san, and the gist of everything that happened in between then and the two of them meeting you. If you have anything to divulge along those lines that will ensure I’m not sleeping in the room of a murderer, be my guest.”

               Kuroo blinked at him like he was crazy. Kei just let out an exasperated sigh.

               “Within reason, of course.”

               The blonde watched as the dark-haired man looked away from him, turning his gaze to the floor, while adjusting his pillow so that it was pressed against his chest. He took note of the way Kuroo breathed deeply, and the subtle gulp smoothing over his throat.

               “…My past, eh?”

               “…You don’t have to – “

               “N-No. It’s fine. You deserve to know anyway.” Kuroo blew out some air, clasping his hands together in a seemingly anxious fashion.

               “God, where do I even begin…?”

* * *

               His name was Kuroo Tetsurou. For as long as he could remember, he was, to put it lightly, a guinea pig. A test subject. A living piece of data that was under the intense scrutiny of an organization he could only refer to as the “coats”, referring to the fact that everywhere he looked, there would always be someone in a pristine, white lab coat, surveying him, never letting their attention wander away for more than a second.

               Walls of clean white, harsh bright lights, injections and syringes until his arm was sore. Crisp, pale blue hospital gowns on his body, and the same food every week, served on a bright, orange platter made of shiny plastic, three times a day, seven times a week. They were taught and educated, he and all the other children that were living there with him. Kuroo looked the same as all the other kids; shaved heads, pale gowns, pallid skin, and yet the brightest of smiles. They never did have access to the internet, but they were allowed to watch television, for one hour, only on Fridays. All of the kids on his floor – he knew there were multiple floors because he always passed by an elevator when the coats were leading them through the winding corridors – would gather together in one room and watch on a small TV. Kuroo never remembered ever being allowed to go outside, but seeing the things he saw on the television, he _yearned_ to see more of what he’d never experienced being stuck inside a white box 24/7.

               All in all, life in the compound wasn’t entirely all that bad for Kuroo. At first, anyway.

               The changes came drastically and dramatically. It was one day that Kuroo accidentally set a cushion on fire and set off a fire alarm in his room. He remembered being so afraid of himself, huddled in the far corner with his hands clamped over his ears and eyes stinging with tears while the alarm blared away, and the fire continued to grow in front of him. It was then that the door to his room burst open and it wasn’t the coats that entered this time, but armored men. Black, bulky, armored men with helmets and guns, blocking his view of the flame and picking him up off the floor, throwing him haphazardly onto a shoulder and quickly ushering him out of the room. Despite all his crying and the blur of tears in his eyes, a gentle hand took him from the man that was carrying him, their smiling face looking down at him and only telling him that “it’s going to be _alright_ ”.

               He never saw the kids on his floor ever again. He never lived in that same room ever again. The rest of that time seemed to run by him like a racehorse, only remembering that Kuroo was now living in a communal space with five other boys, who all eyed him like a disfigured animal the moment he stepped into the room.

               _Just remember; if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask._

               The other boys were…different. They all shared the same shaved hairstyle that he himself carried, as well as the pale, pallid skin, but they all had haunting looks in their eyes and none of the bright, hope-filled smiles that his former floormates carried. They regarded Kuroo with a sort of disappointment, a distant and hollow look embedded in their irises that parlayed a message that almost spoke as if they disapproved of him being added to their ranks.

               Despite their ragged and intimidating appearances, the older boys were quick to fill him in on the details he was missing out, if through a series of complex but nuanced messages of secrecy. The information overwhelmed him at first as a young child with nothing but a strange fear for his newfound pyrokinesis, but Kuroo managed to catch on quick as the years grew on…and the training commenced.

               The Japanese government was privy to the knowledge that sometimes, humans could tap into a specific “superpower” gene that allows them to perform feats of magnificent caliber. All myths and legends began like that, from Hercules to Buddha. Sometimes, the gene manifested in very small, but still very palpable cases, and that’s where the Olympian athletes and the Bachs and the Van Goghs come in. Then there were the select few; him, the other kids at the compound, and people like Akaashi, Bokuto, and even Tsukishima. The Japanese government was aware of this, and they have always been acting behind the scenes, taking care of individuals who might exhibit such prowess and inducting them to what the other kids in his barracks could only describe as a “supersoldier program”.

               That much was evident once Kuroo was subjected to a highly enhanced and altered diet, consisting of not only essential vitamins, but other enhancers that pushed his body to the limits. The training, as he came to knew it, was grueling and exhausting, and it was then that he truly came under the real scrutiny of the coats themselves. Tests designed to push the human body _and_ mind to their extremes, to unlock the doors of human potential. The blood, sweat, tears, and vomit that arose from days upon days of rigorous… _testing_ made his stomach churn, and all he could remember was their glassy, beady eyes staring down at him from behind clear, glass windows, like little girls at a pet shop, staring into the hamster pen.

               The coats seemed to have a particular interest in combat-able abilities, especially powers like that which belonged to Kuroo. Explosive, devastating, and particularly deadly in the most capable hands. The coats were cruel and subjected him to combat drills against his fellow detainees. No matter how many times he’d had to go through that process, Kuroo could never quite erase the image of his seeing their charred bodies flopping on the ground, their throats strained from screaming into the air as they tried to will the searing pain away. And then there were those who weren’t able for combat. That’s where he met Kenma.

               In their (quite limited) downtime, the kids who had awakened to their potential would gather in a communal room; it was there that Kuroo found the technopath sitting in the deep corner of the room, clutching two motherboards in his small hands. By then, Kuroo had already garnered himself a reputation for being “a bloody murderer” among the others, and sensing their discontent and unwilling to socialize with him, Kuroo took the initiative to distance himself, and perhaps make a friend in more welcome spaces.

               Kenma was just as afraid as the others were, but not because the young man approaching him was the fire conjuring child soldier, but rather because no one had bothered talking to him before, and Kuroo was the first one to stretch a hand out to him.

               “You see, Kenma, he…he does this really cool thing where he just _builds_ and _breaks down_ electronic things. With his _mind_.” Kuroo’s eyes widened as he explained the process, gesturing with his hands like he was Kenma himself with a laptop sitting on his knees.

               Kenma was, in all sense of the word, not physically fit for combat. He was frail, and perhaps even terminally ill, but he didn’t let that get to him. (When Kuroo mentioned that he was sorry for him, Kenma hissed at him and rolled his eyes, telling him to worry about more pressing issues.) But boy, was the kid _gifted_. They formed a fast friendship, if only for Kuroo getting a kick out of teasing the technopath, while also being entertained by how quickly Kenma could assemble and disassemble a blender in front of his eyes.

               Then there was the interesting stuff. With some careful maneuvering around the compound, Kenma was able to buy some moments of extra downtime for both him and Kuroo. In these precious moments, he could show off some of his more ambitious projects, like a smartphone he reverse engineered from some old parts he found while scouring the compound, all possible due to tampering with the security systems. Not that it was easy due to having to find a “chink in the armor” first and foremost, but the rest was cake according to Kenma. Within reason, of course.

               _“You see this? It’s a bit less risky than building a computer and trying to hide its presence on the network, or even busting my ass trying to find an exposed wired connection. Besides, you can’t fit a laptop in your pocket, but you can definitely fit this in there.”_

               _“What does it do exactly…?” Kuroo stared at it, keeping his voice to a hush just in case._

               _“Well, look at this. This is called the Internet.”_

               Kuroo fished his phone out of his pocket and wiggled it in front of Kei. Scrolling through the device, he pulled up a photo and showed it to the blonde, who looked at it earnestly. It was a picture of Kuroo and the aforementioned technopath smiling – well, it was just Kuroo smiling – at the camera. Kuroo looked vastly different, almost unrecognizable with the scar tissue dotting the sides of his face and the noticeable lack of hair on both of their heads. Kenma was frowning and facing away from the camera, a slight blush visible on the pixels of the screen.

               “He gave me his phone. Shortly before…” The pyrokinetic blinked and looked down at the picture, breathing heavily again.

               Kei stared at him quietly, one half of him conflicted about wanting to hear the rest of the story out of legitimate curiosity, and the other half willing to just end the story right there, as it sounded like it might not come to a fairy tale ending.

               “…Kenma knew my situation. I told him about the sparse details, but the observant little shit knew better than that. Knew myself better than I did. The training was hard, and I didn’t like any of what I was doing, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. None of us did. So he did the unthinkable.” Kuroo shrugged passively, then looked at Kei. “You know what he did?”

               “…No…?”

               “Kenma shut down the compound. All by himself. In the ensuing chaos, he texted me on this thing and said – “

               _“this is your only chance. go.”_

               _“what the hell are you talking about???”_

               _“you wanted out, right? so I’m giving you out”_

               _“KENMA”_

               _“you don’t have to come get me it’ll be too dangerous”_

               _“kenma no if i’m leaving i’m leaving with u”_

               _“don’t worry about me. besides, i know you’re coming back for me anyway”_

               _“kenma i swear to god”_

               _“you have less than five minutes and counting. and i’m counting on you.”_

               Kuroo chuckled and inhaled deeply. Kei could feel the sadness in his voice as he spoke. “That idiot. Sacrificed himself for me. I had…never moved as fast as I did that night. The emergency lights, they…made everything so red, and there was so many bodies in the corridors. But I have faith that Kenma wasn’t as dumb as I thought he would be. I’ve got faith that he ensured his own safety first, that selfish bastard…” Then the dark-haired man let out a laugh and wiped at his eyes, though Kei was sure that they weren’t borne out of joy. “I managed to slip out. And I breathed in the air of the real world for the first time. At least, when I finally ran as far as I could without any of the coats or the armored guys following me that far. It was liberating, to actually have seen the real moon, and the real stars, and to feel the cool, wet grass under my skin when I collapsed of exhaustion.”

               The blonde watched the other man intently, gauging his emotions carefully. He obviously had a very strong bond with Kenma, and it just made Kei just a little more peeved at himself for leaving behind Yamaguchi. But this much he knew, that he and Kuroo thought similarly about the people they cared about. Kei would gladly have stayed with Yamaguchi if he knew that neither of their lives would be at stake, but upon hearing Kuroo’s testimony regarding the secret organization operating in the shadows and tracking every single one of their moves, it would be selfish of him to put his own best friend in that situation. Just like how selfish Kenma thought it would be to not use his powers over technology to offer his friend a way out.

               “It took me a while to get going, but with some help from some very hospitable folks I met along the way, I was good to go, and it would only be a matter of time before I run into Bo and Akaashi.”

               “Your friend is…very brave. You’re lucky to have known someone like him.”

               “Ah, Tsukki, don’t talk like he’s dead,” Kuroo joked, garnering a cracked expression from Kei. “I know he’s still alive…at least, he has to be. I won’t rest until I get him out of there.”

               “Well, uh...do you have any idea of where to look?”

               Kuroo quirked his lips and scratched his head. “It was admittedly really dark outside of the compound, and it seemed like I was miles away from any civilization, so I don’t exactly remember where it was, only that I stumbled upon a town by sheer willpower, days later.”

               Kei wasn’t one to return favors, especially if they were very big ones that he’d rather just forget about and talk over with a cup of ice cream. But now that he was here with them, he figured that…

               “…Is there any chance, maybe, that…I would be useful in helping you find your friend?” Kei tried his best to face him head-on, despite his gaze lowering down to the floor in embarrassment. Here he was, willing himself to be a good person to the individual that saved him from being turned into a bloody slice of swiss cheese, all while trying to digest the slew of information that said person just spilled on him.

               Kuroo looked up at him. “I don’t want…to push that obligation onto you just because I told you my story. You don’t owe me anything; I’m just doing what he would have done if I were in his position. But…you would be a very great asset. To us, the team.” He smiled gently at Kei. “You’re welcome here.”

               “Thank you, Kuroo-san.” As if to diffuse the tense atmosphere in the quiet living room, Kei allowed himself a smirk. “…And y’know, you look much better with hair, despite how hideous that hairstyle is.”

               The pyrokinetic returned the snide expression. “I’ll take the compliment. But don’t let the fire touch you on the way out, unless you wanna look like a naked molerat.”

               “You mean you in that old selfie of yours?”

               “ _Touché_. Now go on, get some sleep; I’ve stolen enough of your time.” And suddenly, Kuroo was grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him up off the couch, directing him into his room while ignoring Kei’s protests.

               At the door, Kei turned around and faced the other man, finding himself staring into those impossibly amber-like eyes, hidden behind long, fluttering eyelashes. “I, uh…”

               “I, uh…?”

               “…Good night. Thank you for sharing your story with me.”

               Kuroo smiled at him again, this time a smile of a more genuine flavor. “Good night to you too, Tsukki.”

               Not wanting to expose himself to more of the tense atmosphere, Kei promptly closed the door on him, before spinning around and letting himself lean against the doorframe. Kuroo was right; he needed the sleep right now.

               For some reason, Kuroo confiding in him didn’t feel as odd or alien as he thought it would be. If anything, it offered better insight into the enigmatic young man’s mind, a preview of the inner workings that would normally be hidden to the normal person. The trust that Kuroo put in him just now gave Kei a feeling of…comfort. And pride. That maybe he wasn’t as bitter and unapproachable as he thought it was. And while cracking his shell would be like breaking into hell and making away with the devil’s own crown, he didn’t feel too turned off with the talk he and Kuroo had tonight. If anything…

               If anything, Kei took a bit of a fancy to the pyrokinetic. Just a smidge.

               Like they say, keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer, and while he and Kuroo weren’t exactly _friends_ , he posed an immediate enough threat for him to be placed in the latter bracket. But Kei was willing to let this one slide.

               As he lay in bed that night, his thoughts swarmed to the images of bright, white rooms and clean and pristine corridors. Dreams of laptops building themselves from scrap parts, and cafeteria quality lunches going up in flames. For some reason, the mental image of a slice of meatloaf getting roasted in an open flame above Kuroo’s hand while he cackled like a madman was enough to send Kei into the dream world with a smirk on his face.

* * *

               Kei woke up at a decent time the next morning, scrambling to find his glasses amidst the stream of sunlight filtering in past the hideous curtains in Kuroo’s room, before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and stretching his arms tiredly. Eyes narrowed and a hand scratching his lower back, the blonde stepped out into the living room, greeted by the smell of cooked eggs and coffee.

               “Good morning,” came a monotone voice from the kitchen. Turning into the dining room, Akaashi was busy at the stove once more (Kei figured this might be a regular sight), while he was greeted by the grinning face of Bokuto himself, as well as Kuroo with a cup of coffee raised to his lips.

               “Good morning, Tsukki!” The owl-haired man smiled brightly at Kei, and the sound of his nickname slipping off his tongue only prompted the blonde to shoot at glare at Kuroo, who smirked at him from behind the rim of his mug.

               “…Good morning, Tsukki.”

* * *

               “You know you’re not going to be getting a lot of work done playing with your silly flowers like this.”

               “And you of all people should know what exactly these _silly flowers_ could do.”

               Black leather gloves caressed gently over a potted plant, brown eyes focused over the leaves of the tulip as it started grow of its own accord, the stem thickening and expanding out of the pot. It began to sprout vines of varying different greens and yellows, and even the bright pink color of the tulip flower started to give way to violet, then blue, and then black as its petals curled in on itself and –

               “ _Oikawa_.”

               The brunette spun in his chair swiftly at the sound of his name, and threw a pointed glare at the intruder in the room. “What do you need, Iwa-chan? I’m not exactly pleased right now, so make it quick.”

               Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and strode over to the brunette, smacking him upside the head with his own gloved hand before slamming a folder on his desk, next to the rapidly overgrown flower. “Look, I know you’re still upset we weren’t able to secure the targets we found in Shinjuku, but so is everyone else. So stop crying about it and look over these diagnostics folders before boss throws you in the ring with Kyoutani again.”

               Oikawa pouted at him and brushed him off. “I know, I know…you’re not my mom, Iwa-chan.”

               Again, the other man rolled his eyes and turned back to the door. “…Just get to work.” With brisk steps, he made his way out of the small room, making a mental reminder to nag Oikawa about the abundance of wilted, overgrown plants in his office again.

               At the sound of the door sliding closed behind him, Oikawa sat back in his chair and sighed, lifting his right hand in front of his face. Carefully pulling the leather glove off, he admired the patchwork of pale scar tissue stretched across the back of his hand, burned on his flesh in a spiral wrapping around his wrist.

               _‘All twenty ground units dispatched to scene found deceased. Cause of death: severe third degree burning.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was allllll exposition, and i'm a bit sorry about it, but i tried to make backstories as engaging as possible, even throwing in a slightly different kind of writing style (plus there was that surprise tidbit at the end, hubba h u b b a)
> 
> and if you haven't noticed, here's to continuing my trend of naming things after lorde songs l m a o
> 
> anywho, thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment!

**Author's Note:**

> that was something, but i'm not entirely sure if i can update this weekly or even semi-weekly, but i'll try to keep my muse for this fanfic going (even now that the semester is starting haha kms)


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